Splitting Image
by pepdog1
Summary: Flippy is not insane. No, no, however, his post-traumatic alter ego is! He's found a way to stay in control long term, and Cuddles will have to deal with that the hard way... How will he stay alive when Flippy has everybody else on his side, when he only has Flaky, and when his other friends are dropping like flies? We'll have to find out... Rated T, because blood.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Flipping Out**

"Flippy! Snap out of it!"

Cuddles found himself on the floor of an old, abandoned library, wrestling with an insane bear in a pool of warm blood. He had found himself in this situation after an accident involving stairs, books, and Bowie knives. In detail: he had dropped a book down some stairs and Flippy, who had been trying for weeks to keep his alter ego in, was reminded of gunshot, and so flipped out and attacked him with a Bowie knife. They were now at the bottom of the stairs, having rolled down together, and now Cuddles was under Flippy trying to prevent himself from being stabbed.

"I'm not Flippy anymore!" The bear laughed darkly, his deep voice practically rattling inside Cuddles' eardrums. "You can call me Fliqpy! I hate being mistaken for that cowardly fool!"

He thrust his knife forwards again, only to be held back by the struggling rabbit.

"N-no..." Cuddles growled through gritted teeth. "I won't! I know you're in there, Flippy! Come on! Think happy thoughts!"

"Happy?!" Fliqpy cried, a wide smile on his face, showing all his dagger-like teeth. "What, you think we're all, like, happy tree friends, huh? Well, I hate to break it to ya, buddy, but there's nothing happy about us! We're all going to die gruesomely eventually, and I'll make sure you're first!"

He stopped pushing the knife with both hands and grabbed Cuddles' wrist, twisting it back quite hard. Cuddles screamed in pain, using his free hand to try to wrench free of the bear's grip.

The rabbit kicked Fliqpy fiercely in the stomach, making him let go. He then grabbed the Bowie knife and pulled it out of the other's hand, before using his other hand to push him off. After kicking away a stray book that had been under him, and that had pierced his back, Cuddles then pushed down and got on top of Fliqpy, pulling his arm back in a very painful vice, almost dislocating the bear's shoulder, while holding the knife up against the back of his head. Fliqpy was practically almost drinking the blood that was on the ground that had come out of Cuddles' back and his own arm and leg that he had injured by falling down the stairs.

"Don't you dare move." The rabbit warned. "I can and will either dislocate your arm or cut the back of your head. Or both." Maybe Fliqpy was right. They weren't as happy as most people would think.

"You don't have the guts." Fliqpy said in a muffled, almost gurgling voice.

Cuddles knew he was right, but decided not to let him know that.

"You wanna bet?" He hissed, pushing the knife further into the other's head. He was acting out of character a bit, and he knew it, but being a bit dark for a change was better than dying.

"Come on, do it!" Fliqpy urged, laughing a bit. "Kill Flippy's evil counterpart!"

"But that would mean killing Flippy too." Cuddles mumbled without realizing. He really cared about Flippy, and his subconscious couldn't stop thinking that this... Rabid creature still had his dear friend locked up inside. If Fliqpy was right, and Flippy was indeed never coming back...

"Listen," Fliqpy said, rolling his eyes and lifting his head slightly off the ground so his voice wasn't muffled. "I've been keeping myself locked up inside Flippy for weeks, gathering up energy. I now have enough to stay in control for at least a week. Flippy is not coming back any time soon, not without some serious help."

So there was a possibility of him coming back! A week would be a long time to try and hold down the psycho, however... Cuddles decided that he would probably need help with that part.

There was suddenly a knock on the door, and Fliqpy looked towards it to see who it was. Cuddles kept looking at the bear, in case he tried a surprise attack.

"Hey, Cuddles, I'm here to help with moving those books!" A feminine voice called out. "And I've brought Toothy too!"

"Giggles." Cuddles muttered, filled with horror. "No, no, she can't be here, not now..."

How would Giggles and Toothy react to finding these two wrestling in a puddle of blood in the dark? And to him with a Bowie knife at the back of the military sergeant's head?!

The door was pushed open, and the two guests stepped in... Only to stop in horror when they saw the scene in front of them.

"C-Cuddles?" Giggles whimpered. "Flippy? Wh-what...?"

"Giggles, help!" Fliqpy called out, to Cuddles' surprise, sounding exactly like his counterpart. "Cuddles is trying to kill me!"

"H-How d-d-do we know it's n-not your a-alter ego?" Toothy stuttered, holding onto his tail nervously. "A-and that C-Cuddles wasn't just p-p-protecting himself?!"

"What?!" Fliqpy cried, obviously shocked. "I got rid of him weeks ago! I haven't changed into him for ages, not even that time Lumpy set off an actual gun near my head!"

Cuddles was confused. Was Flippy really back, or was this all just a big charade?

Giggles and Toothy swapped glances, silently agreeing on something. Giggles went up to Flippy and grabbed his free hand, while Toothy grabbed Cuddles by the waist, trying to pull him off of the bear. Cuddles happily obliged, letting go of Flippy's arm and standing up.

Cuddles helped Flippy up. The bear was rubbing his arm in pain, and was holding onto the other for protection.

"Cuddles," Giggles looked the rabbit in the eyes, a horrified look on her face. "H-how could you do this?!"

"It wasn't me!" Cuddles exclaimed frantically. "I dropped a book down the stairs and that set Flippy off! He knocked me down the stairs, hurting his arm and leg in the process, and I landed on the edge of the book, which is why my back is bleeding! He then got out his Bowie knife and tried to kill me! I took it off him, pushed him away, and then got on top of him! And then you came!"

"You're lying." Flippy growled, his yellow eyes filled with hate. Then Cuddles noticed something. It was still Fliqpy, it had to be! He still had the dilated pupils and the sharp teeth!

"Can't you see that's just his counterpart talking?!" He shouted, almost crying. "I didn't do anything! He attacked me!"

"He's lying!" Fliqpy shouted back, eyes also welling up. "H-He's insane!"

The bear gripped Giggles tighter, his breathing now sounding as if he was trying to hold back sobs. Cuddles blinked. He was good. He was a dirty, lying bastard, but he was good at what he did.

"Ugh, both of you stop!" Giggles cried. "We are going to separate you now. Whether you like it or not. You can't go back to either of your houses, though, because Splendid accidentally destroyed them while trying to save Cub. Now, Cuddles. To Flaky's. _Now._ You'll be staying with her so she can keep an eye on you. Don't try to kill her; she has cameras everywhere and we will know. Flippy, I'm taking you to stay with Lumpy. He's one of the only ones who can keep you under control if and when you become evil, even if it is by sheer luck. Now, let's go!"

She finished with a nervous giggle, taking Fliqpy's paw and dragging him off. The bear turned his head towards Cuddles and winked at him and Toothy just before he slipped through the door. The rabbit became distressed, but the beaver didn't seem to notice, as he was staring in horror at the blood stains on the stairs and on the floor. Cuddles turned to Toothy.

"Tooths, you believe me, don't ya?" He asked hopefully, his hands wrapped around the Bowie knife. "Flippy is completely flipped out! And this time, it's long term! I-It's almost like he is trying to play mind games on me because he thinks that plain murdering is no fun anymore!"

Toothy glanced back at Cuddles, chuckling nervously, much like Giggles had. "S-Sure thing, C-Cuds. N-Now, let's just get out of here… T-this place is giving me the c-c-creeps…"

Cuddles rolled his eyes. Toothy obviously was just scared that he would be killed by some unknown force, as if the _Idol_ was hidden somewhere here. Or by himself, which was preposterous since Flippy -well, Fliqpy, at least- was the evil one. But he followed him outside anyway. Going to Flaky's would be very helpful. After all, what better way to get Flippy back to normal than to ask his crush?

**End Chapter One.**

_Okay, I only got into HTF yesterday, but I fell in love with the character of Flippy after watching_ Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow _and _Double Whammy, _and_ _now somehow know all the characters. It's called research. XD (I'm not supposed to be watching this sort of thing, I'm only twelve! o_O Oh well…) _

_I normally write Kirby stories, but I decided to take a small break. So, I hope you liked it! Yes, this is going to be FlippyxFlaky. Hopefully I'll be able to do it right… Anyway, if you liked it, follow and review! Suggestions, critiques, and gushes over how beautiful/terrible my writing is are all accepted!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Like I usually say, sorry for not updating in so long, if you are one of my readers. Have a short chapter that I couldn't be bothered to properly write!_

**Chapter Two: Locks and Knives**

Flaky awoke to a sharp knock on her door. She hobbled out of the kitchen, where she had been half asleep at the table, and opened the door sleepily, after unlocking all twenty locks. What she saw wasn't exactly what you would want to see right after waking up.

Toothy was standing there, with a blood stained Cuddles standing behind him. Cuddles was hiding something behind his back, and Flaky thought she saw a flicker of silver. Like a knife.

Flaky tensed. She felt like screaming out to Toothy, to grab and pull him away from the crazed rabbit, but before she could, Toothy seemed to notice the horrified look on her face.

"Flaky? Are you alright? Is Cuddles scaring you?"

Flaky nodded slowly. So, he knew that Cuddles was there, and he also probably knew about his blood-covered state. Also, what seemed to be Flippy's Bowie knife, as Cuddles took it out from behind his back, and passed it to Toothy, as if it was being confiscated.

"Sorry." Cuddles mumbled. "I got into a fight..."

"... With Flippy?!" Flaky finally got the courage to speak up. "Cuddles, you could've been seriously hurt! D-did he flip out?"

"That's the thing." Toothy told her. "When we came in, we saw Cuddles attacking a completely normal Flippy. We don't know yet, but we think that Cuddles here might've attacked him first..."

"... We?"

"Giggles and I. Flippy and Cuddles' houses have been destroyed by Splendid, so we're taking them to live at different houses while we figure out who did what. Flippy is staying at Lumpy's. Cuddles here is staying at yours."

"B-But why my house?" Flaky was rather frightened. Why did they choose her of all people?!

"Well," Toothy scratched his head, trying to remember. "Petunia wouldn't let us go anywhere near her house with blood stains all over us, Lammy is… insane… frankly, The Mole lives underground, The Mime lives in a pretend house, and we have no idea where Lifty and Shifty live, and Pop won't let us anywhere near Cub after what happened that caused Splendid to destroy their houses in the first place when he tried to save him, so..."

"Wait, so Splendid destroyed Flippy and Cuddles' houses while trying to save Cub?" Flaky was mildly confused.

"Yeah, pretty much." Toothy replied, spinning the Bowie knife between his fingers absent mindedly. "Anyway... I hope you don't mind looking after Cuddles. I doubt he'll try to hurt you, and even if he does, we can always put you in the Regenerator."

The Regenerator was a special machine that regenerated body parts, and could even bring people back to life. It had to be used on a dead body at least a week after it died; any later and it wouldn't work. It was a miracle they had survived after the concert hall exploded last Christmas, because only one of them survived to bury the others where the machine hooked up. It took two weeks for everything to be back to normal.

"I guess you're right." Flaky muttered.

Cuddles suddenly cleared his throat loudly, causing Toothy to almost drop the Bowie knife on his foot.

"Oops, sorry." Cuddles smiled nervously. "But… I'm right here, you know. I'm not going to try and hurt you, Flaky. In fact, I need your help."

Toothy shrugged as he picked up the knife again and started to walk away.

"Well, you two have fun! I have a pie with my name on it, so see ya!"

Flaky tried to stop him from closing the door, but she couldn't. He was long gone by the time she managed to unlock it again.

"So, Flaky…" Cuddles smiled. "About helping me…?"

Flaky sighed in defeat. Not much she could do now.

"Go draw yourself a bath." She said, locking the door again. "We can talk after."

Cuddles nodded and took off to the bathroom. Flaky sighed and sat herself on the couch, curling herself into a ball. What on earth did she just get herself into?


End file.
